BX 3105 
,B4 



BX 3705 

B4 
Copy 1 



PR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS- 



A 



LECTURE 



MUTUUD IS Till 



M l s K A L V IX]) II A LL, 

-ITINO, DECEMBER SSd, 1850, 

ON tin: JESl ITS, 



REV. JOSEPH P. BEKG, D.D., 

. 01 Tin: i,i i;mw UPOBIOD 0H1 It'll. KAd BXBJH I 



PnOXCHiKAl!!. IMCATION.— 1.1 1.. ■ 



PHILADELPHIA: 

T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 CHESTNUT STREET, 

ONI DOOR ABOVE THIRD. 



KI>G t BAIRD, PRINTERS. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by 

T. B. PETERSON, 

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern 
s District of Pennsylvania. 



t *b Libiary 
of Congress 

washington 

addrES 

or THE 

REV. JOSEPH F. BERG, D.D , 

l'EI.I\ l.Ki:i> IN THE MUSICAL FUND HALL, 

DECEMBER 23d, l« 

ON THE JESUITS. 

The sixteenth century was signalised by two great 

which may be regarded as constituting an- 

oifitic eras in the world's history — I mean the 

; Reformation, ami tin- establishment of the Order 

of Jesuits Ignatius Loyola j they occurred, ehrono- 

dly, at an interval el' 2 i the former dating 

from tlie Reformation in Germany in L517, ami the latter 
in K>4n. The contiguity el' these events is remarka- 
ble. If the Reformation, as we believe, is of God, it will 
not be difficult to determine the great originator of its 
opponent. 

The one makes light its watch-word, and proclaims 
its mission to be the advancement of light; it holds 
forth the Book of God as a Heavenly candle, ordained 
by the wisdom and goodness of Almighty God, to pour 
the blessings of Divine health and peace upon the family 
of man. And the progress in arts and science, manu- 
factures and commerce, in national health and national 
happiness, has followed it throughout the earth. The 
other shrouds its form in darkness, like the pestilence 



4 DR. BERG S LECTURE OX THE JESUITS. 

that wasteth at noon-clay, and the victim sees not the 
arrow, nor the hand that aims it, but sinks to the 
grave. 

If the Scriptural text, " By their fruits ye shall know 
them," be as faithful a test as all men of sound heart 
and mind hold it to be, then are the whole mechanism, 
and nature, and operation of the practical influence of 
Jesuitism, world-confessed abominations. The per- 
sonal history of Loyola is a confirmation of the maxim 
that "truth is even stranger than fiction;" that the 
realities of history may at times be more wonderful than 
the vagaries of man. In the present instance, however, 
it must be admitted that'the sources of our information 
are not of the most reliable character. The biographers 
of Loyola are generally persons more or less tinged with 
the cold fanaticism which he instituted, as their prin- 
ples allow them a large margin in which to embellish 
their narrative ; and the candid inquirer will be fre- 
quently constrained to pause, and doubt, and say with 
the Roman, " credit Judas." 

It will be necessary to glance at a few of the promi- 
nent events in the history of Loyola, in order that we 
may be prepared to appreciate the principles of the 
fraternity. He was born in the castle of Loyola, in 
1401 ; of his earl} T history little is known with certainty; 
in his youth he became a page t o Ferdinand the 5th, 
King of Spain, and subsequently entered the army as an 
officer. He soon gave signal marks of his valor; he was 
dangerously wounded in the right leg by a canon ball; 



DR. BERG S LECTURE OX THE JESUITS. 5 

and as soon as his condition permitted, he was carried 
to his paternal home, the castle of Loyola ; but from 
the very imperfect manner in which the bones had been 
set, or from the injuries sustained, the surgeon deemed 
it necessary to break the bones anew in order to replace 
them in the natural position, to all which he submitted 
without a groan, as all well-bred heroes should do. At 
this period he was a man of the world, and was addicted 
to its pleasures. The idea of sporting a crooked limb to 
a handsome man, is intolerable. An operation was per- 
formed which was nearly fatal; his medical attendants 
gave up all hope ; and he himself was resigned to his 
fate, and went to sleep. As he slept, behold ! he had 
a vision ; St. Peter stood before him ; what he said I 
know not, but it appears he had a great regard for him, 
for he cured Ignatius with his own hand ; the sick man 
awoke convalescent, his pains removed, his strength re- 
stored. 

This interference of the apostle, is shrewdly conjec- 
tured by his biographers, to have been owing to a poem 
which he composed in his honor. Ignatius seems to 
have been a sinner at this period of his life ; and not- 
withstanding his miraculous recovery, he was not con- 
verted : his crooked limb troubled him. St. Peter had 
not cured it ; but still an unsightly bone protruded ; 
the shape of his boot was anything but elegant ; he de- 
termined to have it right if there was any virtue in 
surgery. The bone was cut away without his changing 
his countenance : still the limb was crooked. Ignatius 



6 DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

was determined it should be straight ; an iron machine 
was devised and employed, but it was all of no use ; 
every experiment failed ; the limb remained crooked ; 
an apt representation and emblem of the crooked 
ways of his followers, from that day to the present. 
(Applause.) Ignatius was compelled to keep his bed; 
and in order to while away his tedious hours as he lay 
upon his back trying to straighten his helpless limb, he 
asked for a romance; they brought him the Lives of the 
Saints, he read it and was converted. Previous to his 
leaving his father's castle, he saw the Virgin Mary in a 
blaze of light, with the infant Saviour in her arms. He 
proceeded to a monastery, and there dedicated himself 
to the Virgin Mary. As he was a true knight and tinged 
with the chivalric spirit of his age, on his journey, hav- 
ing heard a Mahommetan speak disrespectfully of her, 
he inquired whether it was not his duty to kill the 
offender; he dropt his bridle on the horse's neck, and . 
determined to let it depend on the course of the horse ? 
which, like Balaam's ass, had more charity than his 
master, and decided that the Mahommetan should be 
unmolested, and thus he was induced to forego his pur- 
pose of holy zeal. 

It would be of little advantage for me to recite the 
marvellous instances of the special revelations with 
which he was favored, for I believe many of my hearers 
would not believe more than half of them, and some 
might denounce them all, incontinently, as sheer fables, 
and thus scandalize the memory of his biographers. As 



DR. BERG S LECTURE OX THE JESUITS. 7 

this would seem indecorous, we will uot detain you with 
mere details, for to be candid, I have myself no un- 
qualified belief in them. From this period Ignatius began 
to show his piety by severe austerities in the way of 
chastising himself, and by wearing an iron chain. 

In the course of two or three years, by the aid of this 
instrumentality, the work of sanctification made rapid 
progress, visions of ecstacy were multiplied, he was fa- 
vored with extraordinary revelations ; one of them was 
of eight days duration, and they were proceeding to 
bury him. when he awoke just in time, with a pious eja- 
culation. No one knows, says one of his biographers, the 
secrets which were revealed to him, for he would never 
tell them, and all that could be extorted from him was. 
that they were inexpressible. Xo doubt they were. 

He afterwards prosecuted his theological studies in a 
University of Spain. He seems to have been an indif- 
ferent student, being more intent upon promoting the 
principles of his spiritual exercises, than upon learning 
what his teachers wished to impart. Having been for- 
bidden to interfere, and still proceeding, he was threat- 
ened with a whipping for his contumacy; and the pre- 
paration had been made for the public infliction of the 
penance, when Ignatius, by an interview, made so pow- 
erful an impression upon the principal of the college, 
that instead of giving a signal for the punishment, 
he threw himself at the feet of Ignatius, begged his 
pardon, and declared that he was a saint. He was 
afterwards imprisoned as a heretic, but they discovered 



8 DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

that so far from being a heretic, he was a true saint, 
and he was liberated. He then went to Paris and laid 
the foundation of his new Order. 

The institutions were presented to Pope Paul the 
Third, for his sanction, and after some hesitation they 
were confirmed. From the day of these institutions, 
the Jesuits, whose oath binds them to uncompromising 
obedience to the superior of their Order, have been the 
acknowledged masters of Pionie. They are selected 
according to their fitness for different posts. "Whether at 
the court of kings, or amid scenes of pagan and savage 
life, they every where exhibit the same unwavering 
fidelity to the principles of their constitution. Their 
great aim is to Eomanise the world ; any means with 
them are sanctified which look towards this end. It is 
marvelous, after three hundred years of unremitting 
toil, they have accomplished so little that is really 
permanent. Those are mistaken who proclaim the 
downfall of Protestantism, and speak vauntingly of its 
decline. Allow me to mention a few facts, to which 
my attention has been called by a reverend gentleman 
who has been connected with the American Board of 
Foreign Missions. The Protestant religion has opened 
the way for the free and unrestricted circulation of the 
Scriptures, to one hundred and fifty millions of indivi- 
duals ; a pure Christianity is winning new conquests 
every day by the power of that great instrument ah ty 
in salvation, where Jesuit missionaries planted the ele- 
ments of the Order two centuries ago, and scarcely a 



DR. BERG S LECTURE OX THE JESUITS. 9 

vestige of the results of their labor remains. At this 
very hour the buildings erected by these emissaries of 
the Pope, are occupied by the missionaries of the Ame- 
rican Board. 'What has been their success in Japan ? 
The government of Japan, in consequence of the in- 
trigues and interference of the Jesuits, finally ban- 
ished them from the country, and has ever since closed 
its ports from the commerce with Europeans ; and every 
year the expulsion of the Jesuits is celebrated by the 
public ceremony of trampling upon the cross which 
has been their emblem of ferocity and craft, all the 
world over. 

Turn to China and we see similar interference, and 
at length the suppression of the Order and banishment 
from that country, leaving prejudice and jealousy, which 
still remain though generations have past away, spurn- 
ing it with indignant contempt. Their operations are 
secretly carried on in China, and the amount of their 
labors amounts to this sum total, that Jesuitism is 
persecuted and despised. Upon the establishment of 
Protestant missions in that country within the last 
thirty or forty years, the Bible was sent to the Chinese 
in their printed language, and thus the sacred writings 
have been opened to four hundred millions, nearly one- 
half of the population of the earth, who dwell in that 
hitherto benighted empire, for it must be remembered, 
that although there are a great number of dialects, yet 
the written languge is the same throughout. Piemember 
also that the missionaries connected with the Ameri- 



10 DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

can Board of Missions, have afforded means also o^ 
giving not only the Bible but Christian literature to 
nations that were in the low condition of savage life. 
Let it be recorded that Protestant missionaries have 
given the Bible to the nations of the earth in two 
hundred and fifty different languages, and are now 
circulating the Scriptures by millions of copies an- 
nually. Take one fact more as an illustration of the 
relative vitality of Jesuitism and Protestantism. It is 
stated as a sober truth that the natives of Mexico, 
where Catholics have preached for a hundred and fifty 
years, are actually sending their children to Protestant 
missions in the Sandwich Islands, in order to secure a 
liberal education, where Protestants have labored only 
twenty-five years. No wonder that the terrified Arch- 
bishop flitted across the water to tell Pius the Ninth 
what an exploit he had performed in trumpeting forth 
the downfall of Protestantism, prostrated to the earth, 
declining, dying. 

How Pius will rejoice when he hears it j it will be 
news to him, as it was to us all, after all the groans 
and lamentations that were extorted from his pious 
heart, by the acknowledged increase of Protestantism. 
The archbishop forgot that he ought not to contradict 
his master. The establishment by papal authority of 
the Order of Jesuits was obtained with difficulty. The 
cardinals, to whom the constitution was submitted, 
deemed it useless ; and it was only by inserting a final 
clause, pledging its members to perfect obedience to the 



DR. BERG S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 11 

Pope, placing them under positive command to go as 
emissaries into all parts of the world, that the boon 
was granted. Abject, unscrupulous submission to the 
will of the Pope, was the condition of the institution. 
The event justified the sagacity of the pontiff. In less 
than fifty years the power of the Jesuits was felt in 
every country in Europe, in every country that owned 
its allegiance to the See of Rome. Although the in- 
fluence of the Order increased to such an extent, that 
the Jesuits became the most powerful Order of the 
Church, it was feared by its enemies as much as it was 
applauded by its friends. Loyola was appointed as the 
first general of the Society. This devoted son of the 
Church was surprised and afflicted by the honor conferred 
upon him; he could not think of accepting it; and 
prayed to know what he should do. He came to a reso- * 
lution at last, to leave the matter to the decision of his 
confessor, with the pious declaration that if his confessor 
enjoined it upon him he would accept it. In the name of 
Jesus Christ, to the astonishment of Ignatius, his confes- 
sor commanded him to accept the appointment, and 
nothing was left but obedience ; he accordingly was 
duly installed. He had many visions, the blasphemy 
of which is too great for description ; they reached their 
climax in the declaration that fell from his lips, that 
on his journey to Rome, he saw the Father presenting 
him to Jesus Christ, who was bearing the cross ; who 
after having received Ignatius, said, " I shall be propi- 
tious to you at Rome." Pooroor says the Eternal 
Father placed Ignatius with his Son. 



12 DR. BERG'S LECTURE *0N THE JESUITS. 

The original number of the Order was limited to 
sixty, but this restriction was subsequently annulled. 

Loyola now went to the work of preparing his Con- 
stitution ; he sent Francis Xavier to India, others to Ve- 
nice, Ratisbon and other places. Xavier was afterwards 
canonized as a saint, and many miracles are recorded 
respecting him. In a list of the saints, published with 
a full sanction of the Romish Church, you will find it 
recorded, while on a voyage, engaged in devout contem- 
plation, he dropped a crucifix into the sea ; he was discon- 
solate on account of the loss, and mourned greatly 
during the entire trip. At length they reach the de- 
sired haven ; as they step on shore Xavier observed a 
crab. Judge of his surprise when he saw the animal 
approach him with the long lost and much lamented 
'crucifix. Just at his feet he dropped the crucifix, and 
with all the deliberation in the world returned to his 
own element. The delight of the saint may be ima- 
gined. It is without reason, then, that it is said Pro- 
testantism has converted hone, and Catholicism has 
converted all ; it has power even to change the heart 
and renew the nature of man. Loyola died in 1556, 
16 years after the papal sanction of the Order was se- 
cured. He was succeeded by Luyniz, who improved, if 
he did not perfect, the system devised by its founder. 

The constitution of the Order invested the general 
for life, with supreme and independent authority. He 
has the sovereign and independent control of the re- 
venue ; his word is law ; the members are at his disposal, 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 13 

as clay in the hands of the potter : a more complete 
despotism was never devised or instituted. The no- 
vices who offer themselves as candidates, are re- 
quired to lay bare the inmost recesses of their soul and 
all their constitutional propensities. The second class 
act as spies upon the conversation and actions of the 
novices, and report the result of their observations. A 
special and rigid examination of the heart is repeated 
every six months, and thus till the novice has reached 
the age of thirty-three years, when the superior is ena- 
bled to transmit to the general a complete moral and 
intellectual daguerreotype of every candidate for the 
full degree; and he is thereby acquainted with the 
character, temper, ability, attainment, physical temper- 
ament of the members, and is thus enabled to choose 
each department in which every member may be most' 
useful. 

All reports are registered at Eome, and he need 
only run his eye over the index of qualifications to 
select the man best fitted for an undertaking. A mem- 
ber of this Order, therefore, makes a vow of obedience, 
in addition to that of obedience to the Pope and his 
successors, by which he binds himself to go to any part 
of the world at the discretion of the Pope, 

The order is divided into four classes — first novices ; 
next, scholastics or scholars — this was a kind of proba- 
tionary state, in the course of which their peculiar 
qualifications are ascertained, and they become fit to be 
admitted into the third class — called lay brethren. 



14 dr. berg's lecture on the JESOTS. 

The fourth and last class consists of those who are 
fully advanced, able to serve the church with their evil 
mechanism, running out into the most minute ramifica- 
tions, penetrating every class of society, exerting their 
plenary influence in favor of the policy of Eome ; they 
have from the first been the most dangerous enemies 
and treacherous friends to all except the members of 
their own fraternity; they practice in secret, they work 
in the dark, they assume all manner of disguises, 
worming themselves into every position. They labor, 
they are banded for the advancement of Papacy in 
countries where Popery is already established, or seek 
covertly in Protestant lands to introduce popish super- 
stition. They pretend sympathy in order to chain the 
Protestants in a mawkish charity, which stigmatises the 
very outlines of past history as a prejudice or bigotry, 
and which will not tolerate an earnest protest against 
the infernal machinations of Eome. It may be asked, 
where is the public press, especially in our large cities? 
I say it is hermetically sealed, with here and there a 
single exception, to any that might be regarded as offen- 
sive to the Eoman Hierarchy. Mark our proprietors 
and editors, and if you are in their confidence, perhaps 
some of them will answer with a shrug of their shoul- 
ders, the "Jesuits" 

Now, making all allowance for the peculiar and often 
delicate relations of political journals, we find that, in 
matters that pertain to religion, their position, if openly 
confided to the country, must be one of strict neutrality, 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 15 

why is it that when the truee is broken, it is always 
done at the expense of Protestantism? why is it that 
the slight, innuendo and the daily sneer are so often in- 
serted against Protestantism ? It will not be many 
years, I am persuaded, before the people of this country 
will discover that the power of Eome is ciyil as well as 
ecclesiastical ; and they will be compelled to speak out 
against the Church of Eome, because they learn that it 
is but another name for the Court of Rome ; they will 
see that the politicians will say, as Othello, their "occu- 
pation is gone." The day must come when the grand 
issue will be between despotism and liberty. Some may 
wonder why I presume to speak so confidently of the 
fact. I say so, because the whole history of Jesuitism 
proves that this is as necessary a consequence as a logi- 
cal inference from plain premises. 

The vital principle of the Order, is Papal supremacy; 
take this and you rob Jesuitism of its enormous power ; 
its nioying principle is gone. It holds up the doctrine 
that the end justifies the means, according to the 
acknowledged creed of despotism. If its ends can 
be accomplished by fair means, all the better; — ■ 
if foul means are necessary, it will be still well and 
good. Swear, forswear on the truth, is the practical 
motto of the Jesuits. The power of this society will 
be greatly promoted by obtaining influence oyer the 
minds of distinguished persons ; and it has eyer taught 
a system of relaxed and pliant morality. From the 
very first institution of their Order, their fundamental 



16 DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

maxims have been concealed. The rules of their order 
have not been published, though they have been printed 
by the governments which have expelled the sons of 
Loyola in justification of their punishment. Even be- 
fore the courts of justice they have refused to produce 
the regulations by which they were governed. It is 
strange that any order of men can exist in the bosom 
of the Church and heart of society, professing supreme 
allegiance to the triple crown of Rome, and governed 
by laws which are carefully concealed, with a solicitude 
that ought to convince every honest mind of their tur- 
pitude, and to whom prevarication and perjury are no 
longer crimes which a human creature can perpetrate, 
but become virtues when perpetrated, for the advan- 
tage of the Church of Rome. I Bay this boldly: and I 
am prepared to produce evidence, not from the enemies 
of the Order, but from their own writers. I know then- 
are a slippery race, a cool-headed, — long-headed frater- 
nity. 

Xow. what has been the experience which all coun- 
tries, Roman Catholic, Christian and Pagan, have met 
with after Jesuitism has established itself in the soil ; 
it has ever been bitter; its shade has been deadly like 
the Upas, and as devastating ; and as a result, extirpa- 
tion. This is its history in a single sentence. There 
is a blank in its history which has not been filled up. 
It has always interfered with the policy of the states 
which have sheltered it. What it always has done, it 
will always do. As in old time, in every country or 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 17 

part of the earth where its emissaries can obtain foot- 
hold to prowl about, they did the bidding of the petty 
tyrant of Eome. With a recklessness and scrupulous- 
ness of conscience most unwavering, they went servilely 
and complacently on, with a will strong as iron, and a 
heart as cold as marble and as hard. Its history shows 
one great object, the subversion and extinction of liberty 
and the exaltation of the most terrific cruelty which 
the world has ever groaned under. 

Some will be ready to say that the Jesuits cannot 
injure us in free America. Why not? There are 
enough of them besides American people here, ardently 
devoted to their peculiar institutions and precious pri- 
vileges, to pervert it. I acknowledge, if the subversion 
of this republic were to be attempted by dint of despo- 
tical force, we might laugh at all their artillery of 
war. But this is not the point from which danger is to 
be feared; fraud can often accomplish what force may 
attempt in vain. Jesuitism in Eepublican America is the 
same moral despot who hates the very name of liberty, 
plotting for its overthrow. When you tell him this he 
will reply in substance, My friends, I deplore your 
heartlessness to my real grief; my brotherly heart is 
filled with sorrow when I see you, naturally so generous 
and unsuspecting, not disposed to regard me as an Ame- 
rican; the character of the Jesuit has been grossly 
slandered by a few Protestant bigots. This is the lan- 
guage which they hold to all simple-hearted Protest- 
ants, and deceive many such by this means, and thus 



18 DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

carry on their work without being watched or suspected 
If we experience nothing of the restlessness of Jesuitism 
in our own country, why did they tamper with our 
public school system six years ago, when they attempted 
to snatch the Bible from the hands of our little child- 
ren ? Who originated that assault ? Are they not 
the fraternity that signalized themselves in our city by 
burning two hundred copies of the Scriptures, at a 
public bonfire? The sons of Ignatius Loyola have 
done more to show their hatred of the Bible than any 
other Order. Who have trampled upon the New Tes- 
tament and the Old, throwing the copies upon which 
they could lay their hands into the fire which consumed 
their owners ? Did not these same preachers ask your 
controllers to submit every book of history to them, 
before putting it into the school, so that nothing in his- 
tory offensive to them might be retained? 

Do not misunderstand me ; they have no objection 
to public schools, provided only you will give the con- 
trol of them into their pious hands. In one generation 
after the institution of their Order, they effected in this 
very way much for the Order of Jesuits. 

No consistent, considerate Protestant will send his 
children to a Romish Seminary, or Jesuit College. Are 
there no traces of the workings of Jesuitism in the pre- 
sent crisis of our Republic ? I believe there is strong- 
presumptive evidence of their handicraft. Why is it 
that never since the United States have been a nation, 
have we passed so nearly to the verge of civil war and 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 19 

disunion. A merciful God has guarded the good ship, 
freighted with the hopes of the world, safely over the 
narrow strait, and preserved us from the rocks upon 
which traitors were driving us. Our ensign of union 
and liberty still streams from her masthead, not torn 
from its place in her banner ; and the voice of patriotism 
is heard in one loud chorus of devotion to the Union, 
ascending from every State, Xorth, South, East and 
West ; and honest hearts and true are beating grate- 
fully this day for deliverance from most imminent peril. 
[Applause.] Xow, I ask who are they ? AYhat are they 
who talk thus flippantly of disunion; certainly they 
are not all Jesuits, but if a few of the most violent of 
the pro and anti-slavery presses, Xorth and South, were 
controlled by Jesuits, what would be the issue ? Jesuits 
would involve the country in endless disputes. They 
care nothing for any principles except devotion to the 
Pope of Eome, and implacable hatred to all who do not 
wear his yoke. In the Xorth, your Jesuit may be a 
rabid Abolitionist, and burn with holy wrath against 
slavery — burn with holy sympathy for the poor slave. 
In the South, he may be a rank pro-slavery champion. 
He will be true to his great patron at Eome, if he must 
stir up sectional jealousy, and divide the heart of this 
mighty nation. * 

But how will you prove this. I let it prove itself. You 
can tell when rats have undermined a wall, even though 
you have not witnessed the operation. [Applause.] 
If one of the main elements of the agitation, which has 



20 DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

perplexed the nation be Jesuitism, then are the mem- 
bers of that fraternity only carrying on the same system 
of tactics which has produced their expulsion from 
every country under heaven that has ever tolerated 
them, except America. He is not well informed, who 
does not know that the Pope is concentrating upon our 
shores larger forces of his Ecclesiastics and lay brethren, 
than in any other country of the world. What are 
they doing here ? Not long ago, within a few months 
you may remember to have seen a paragraph respect- 
ing a plan of a Southern confederacy, which was to in- 
clude Mexico, the details of which were black treason 
and perfidy throughout. A Southern confederacy, 
to include Roman Catholic Mexico ! Who devised 
that project? Was it conceived by an American mind? 
If so, then had that head and heart been Jesuitised. 
No, no; the origin of that vile conspiracy, which was 
crushed under the heel of the indignant patriots of the 
South, is evident. 

Now, is it not a rare exhibition of coolness and calm 
assurance, when these people complain that they are 
persecuted ! Dear innocent lambs that they are, 
[applause,] to hear them plead when the rough hand 
is laid upon them, you might think that they were as 
meek and gentle as young Merinoes ; but have you 
ever read in the good book, that the dragon has a voice 
like a lamb. These reverend — very reverend gen- 
tlemen, who talk so pretty of equal rights and liberty of 
conscience, if they wish to convince us of the simple 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 21 

purity of their purposes and excellency of their prin- 
ciples, must not hold a very different language when 
they teach their students of theology the dogmas of 
the Church. Equal rights and liberty of conscience, 
forsooth ; why they deny that such a thing ought to 
exist ; they denounce them as the greatest evil of the 
past age in their books of theology published within the 
last twelve years. They proclaim that heresy is not 
to be tried or proved, but extirpated, unless there may 
be reasons which may render its continuance ad- 
visable. On the abstract question the principle is 
recognized, that heretics ought to be put to death. 
There is no mincing things at all, yet the Jesuits are 
a persecuted race, continually suffering from the rancor 
of Protestant bigots. Now, for very shame's sake, 
they ought to make such an attempt to amend the 
murderous dogmas of their bloody creed, as would 
purge it of its impurity. I quote from their own 
words, as you will find them in Dens' Theology. 
"Baptized Infidels, such as heretics, besides which 
also baptized schismatics are compelled often by cor- 
poreal punishment to return to the Catholic faith, 
the united Church ; and the reason is, because these 
by baptism have become subject to the Church, and 
therefore the Church has jurisdiction over them, and 
the power of compelling them through pointed means 
to obedience, to fulfil the obligations contracted in 
baptism." 

Liberty of conscience, indeed ! down upon your cries- 



22 DR. BERG S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

Do you think we have never heard of you before ! 
Do you really deem the generosity of the American 
people so great, that they will consent to ignore the 
facts of history and the evidence of their own senses 
in this way ? Your sense of loyalty we know. Who 
have been prime instigators of the wars and persecu- 
tions, by which Europe and Asia are constantly con- 
vulsed? They are the Catholics! The Grand Master 
at Rome may, on Easter, before the festival, publish 
anathemas, which curses all Protestant Churches in 
Christendom, and consigns them all bodily to perdition. 
You tell us all religions stand on a footing of perfect 
equality before the American Constitution. Then sup- 
pose that in the development of this principle the 
priests of Juggernaut should come, with hosts of their 
infatuated followers. They will be welcomed, and by 
none more heartily than Protestants, for it will save 
the trouble of sending missionaries to convert them. 
They erect splendid temples, their priests are gorge- 
ously attired, swinging their censers before them; the 
spacious edifices are all filled with worshippers; their 
dancing girls attired with all the taste which can adorn 
female loveliness, assist in most of the ceremonies of the 
great Church of the Juggernaut ; strains of ravishing 
melody, subdue and enchant all worshippers ; a dim 
religious light struggles for entrance through the stained 
windows ; the altar is illumined by the light of flick- 
ering candles ; every thing sentimental and sublime in 
external worship is seen. 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE OX THE JESUITS. 23 

The secular presses eulogise it, aud deuoimce the 
Chistians who cau see nothing to admire iu it. They 
are caressed and nattered by those who give them their 
countenance, until at length they think a period has 
arrived when a demonstration of their peculiar ceremo- 
nies, of their most imposiDg forms of worship, may be 
safely celebrated. The car of Juggernaut is rolled 
down, and is escorted by crowds of priests and devotees 
through the street : the plaintive notes of the dirge 
swells mournfully as the car rolls on. "What means 
that shriek ! another, and another scream ! There is 
blood in the idol's track ; horror is stamped on the fea- 
tures of the humane spectators. The priests complain; 
they protest this is a free country; they claim the 
rights of conscience; they declare all stand on equal 
ground — on the platform of the American constitution. 
They wax indignant at their presumption. If Ameri- 
cans will not tolerate a Juggernaut and permit priests 
to shed the blood of their own devotees, at least they 
ought not to be suffered to murder those whom they stig- 
matize as baptized infidels. Remember, that so long as 
you are content with talking we shall pity you, but if 
you fling your flag or banner to the breeze, if you smite 
with the fist of wickedness — if you attempt to practice 
what you preach, you will learn to your sorrow that 
there is the power in the people of this republic that 
will grind their oppressors to powder. [Great applause.] 
Like the ancient hero, you will sow the dragon's teeth, 
but though armed men spring up from them, America 



24 dr. berg's LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

is wide enough to furnish graves for them all. [Ap- 
plause.] It ought to be proclaimed, and every man 
who is able to comprehend a single idea should be in- 
vited to look at the truth — that Jesuitism in all its 
proper principles and its legitimate fruits, is a thing 
not tolerated by the great mass of the people in this 
country, or in any enlightened Christian nation upon 
the earth. What then is the true statement of the 
principles of religious liberty guaranteed by the Ameri- 
can Constitution ? It is this ; every religion which 
does not interfere with the life, liberty or pursuit of 
happiness of friend or foe is sanctioned ; every other 
is not only not tolerated, but is forbidden by its righteous 
provisions. [Loud applause.] To advocate any other 
policy is to represent our constitution as its own de- 
stroyer, and make liberty suffer. 

To attempt to discuss, or even to touch all the prin- 
ciples of the Jesuits would weary an audience as good- 
natured as yourselves ; but it will be necessary, in order 
to have a proper understanding of their history, to 
notice some of their features. As soon as their records 
were discovered and made public, they of course repu- 
diated them, bemoaning the scurrillity and injustice 
which were cast upon them. 

This was to be expected. They declared they were 
godly men ; but unfortunately the secret instructions 
tallied so closely with the practical principles of the 
system, that it was manifestly the work of the master- 
spirits of Jesuitism ; and the assertions of disclaimers 



DR. EERG's LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 2o 

have no effect in changing one intelligent mind. None 
but Jesuits could have proposed them. None but 
Jesuits have ever dared to carry them out into prac- 
tice. They embodied in their code as complete a 
system of cunning and falsehood, as could be framed; 
and their design was, or is, to centre into the hands of 
the Jesuits, the complete civil, social, and spiritual con- 
trol of every community. This is effected by a system 
of regular espionage. I am disposed to believe that 
the religious preferences of every family in this city, 
having Roman Catholic servants in their employ, are 
well known to every priest. It may be well to notice 
that a plan has been recently organized to make this 
kind of influence tell. Women are made agents in 
carrying forward their machinations ; they have estab- 
lished their societies of sisters ; and by this and other 
means they have endeavored to ingratiate their system 
of darkness and cruelty into popular favor. I well 
know such appeals will awaken a feeling in the commu- 
nity ; and they might as well seek to stop the wrath of 
the north wind by whistling against it, as to endeavor 
to put out the voice of truth with whining remonstrances. 
From them I ask no quarter ; and I will give none. 
The sword of Truth, in the end, can, and will be ex- 
alted, and that is the only sword with which I wish to 
fight. Error cannot prevail against it. I mean not to 
sin against charity, but I desire charity may not sin 
against truth. The proverb is a good one, although it 
is plain Saxon, " Speak truth and shame the devil." 



26 dr. berg's LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

A French writer tells us, that in one of the French 
Churches, over the altar, an allegorical painting illustra- 
tive of the ambitious schemes of the Jesuits, was hung. 
Truth was represented as a ship, on board of which 
appeared Popes, Cardinals, and all the Papal hierarchy, 
while the rudder was held by the Jesuits ; a goodly 
crew to look at no doubt ; but let them see to it or they 
may find the progress will be too much for an old bark 
which is really unseaworthy at best. At any rate, let 
them ship some other ballast, or the ballast will unship 
the rudder. Were I to attempt to sketch only the pre- 
dominant scenes in which they have been engaged, I 
should scarcely know where to end. Who were impli- 
cated in the assassination of Henry the Third of France? 
The Jesuits. Who planned the Spanish Armada, which 
the storms of heaven and British valor sunk to the bot- 
tom ? It was the Jesuits. Who devised the Gunpowder 
Plot to destroy the British Parliament at a blow ? The 
Jesuits. Who procured the murder of Henry IV. of 
France ? The Jesuits. Who brought about the revoca- 
tion of the edict of Nantes, raising again the bloody 
persecution against the Hugonots ? The Jesuits. Who 
were commingled with the most deplorable sins of na- 
tional commission for the last two hundred years ? The 
Jesuits. What name has passed into a proverb indi- 
cating all that is artful, base, and treacherous ? Jesuit 
is that name. And yet this Order, finds upholders 
in Kepublican America ; an Order that has been perse- 
cuted by different governments of the world, and ex- 



DR. BERG S LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 2 ( 

polled from the countries in which it was established ; 
which has been no less than thirty-nine times sup- 
pressed and banished, at intervals prior to its total abo- 
lition by the Pope in 1773: these are the thirty-nine 
articles of despotism. 

But there is one Pope in that long list of 263 pon- 
tiffs who has been a benefactor to his race. Pope Gan- 
uanelli, who afterwards fell a victim to poison ad- 
ministered by the agency of the Jesuits. He bore his 
testimony against that Society as the bane of Christen- 
dom. He charges upon Jesuits dangerous seditions, 
tumults and dissensions ; and justifies their expulsion 
from the kingdoms of France, Spain and Portugal. 
To use his own words. u As it was absolutely necessary 
to prevent the mass of the people from pillaging, ex- 
tirpating and tearing each other to pieces in the very 
bosom of our holy Mother Church." The Sons of 
Loyola are the savagest advocates of the pope's infalli- 
bility. But if the pope is infallible, what are the 
Jesuits ? But let us hope the Pope is not infallible, for 
what Ganganelli was in 1773, Pius VII. was not 181G. 
He reinstated the Order. Since his death, wiser for their 
experience, but none the better, they have gone forth 
over the earth as unwelcome spirits, like frogs issuing 
from the mouth of the dragon, and they are now croaking 
in our midst. Let them not boast, as they have already 
done, that it is their destiny to rule this coimtry. The 
Almighty God will not so thoroughly crush the hope, 
liberty and peace of the world: will not permit the 



28 dr. berg's LECTURE ON THE JESUITS. 

crafty Jesuit to blot out the stars which spangle the 
flag of our national banner, and to change its glorious 
stripes into the yellow folds of Rome. That flag is 
honored on every sea and in every land; it rears its 
ample folds in all quarters of the world. Perhaps some 
friend may suggest, that before I close, I should at 
least say something of the Jesuits to relieve the dark 
side of the picture. 

Paraguay may possibly be selected as a field, upon 
which better fruits have been reaped than were ever 
offered upon any soil that has been cultivated by this 
community. Paraguay was inhabited by a mild, in- 
offensive race, disposed easily enough to submit to their 
discipline; but as to any real advantage which grew 
from their labors, I am extremely sceptical. 

I copy from a Jesuit, who has more frankness and 
simplicity than is usual by the disciples of St. Ignatius. 
He says : " If, according to St. Paul, ministers of these 
nations fail to be interested by the hearing of the 
word, the savages of Paraguay can only be reached by 
the mouth; hence our anxiety." I fear that if beef 
were to be the instrument of conversion, it can only 
be in the cases of those whose God is their meat. If I 
were asked, if nothing good may be drawn from Jesuit- 
ism, I should mention the self-sacrificing spirit ex- 
hibited by many of them; the devotion to literature 
and science for which some of them have been distin- 
guished, may serve as a rebuke to those who profess a 
purer faith, not having adorned it with corresponding 



DR. BERG'S LECTURE OX THE JESUITS. 29 

works. There have been exceptions, bright exceptions 
in the personal habits of individuals. "We have in- 
stances in which individuals were ignorant of the 
secrets of their Order. But I do deny that Jesuitism 
ever made any man holy. My last answer to Arch- 
bishop Hughes, on the Decline of Protestantism, is 
noticed in the "New York Tribune," which thinks that 
the bishop has the advantage of me in suavity. 

I am persuaded that I shall never be able to say 
smooth things of Popery. I avow that I do hate it. 
But there lives not a Roman Catholic on earth to whom 
I do not wish well, both of soul and body, Archbishop 
Hughes himself included. Perhaps when I have more 
leisure I may be able to make some progress in gentle- 
ness by perusing the political editorials of the Tribune. 
The speaker presented his thanks to many papers for 
the kind manner in which they had noticed his last 
speech in reply to Archbishop Hughes, and ended 
with the following anecdote. When Jerome of Prague 
was convicted as a heretic, and fastened to the stake, 
he perceived the executioner skulking up behind him 
to light the faggot. He told him to come out in front 
and light it, and said : " If I had feared your fire, I 
should not have been here to-day." 

THE END. 



mmmmmm'Mm'mmmmmfm. 



I FATHER CLE$!EI\!T. i 



Rmm CATKQU.B STQftY* 



gg BY THE AUTHOR OF " THE ABBEY OF INXISMOYLE," g 
-PROFESSION IS NOT PRINCIPLE," &c. & 



PHILADELPHIA: 

T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 CHESNUT STREET. 
1S4S. 



Prire e 35 Cent*. 



1 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

111 

029 819 529 

T. B. PETERSON, 

No. 98 Chesnnt Street, Philadelphia, % 

& Has jnst Published, and for Sale, the following works, {L 

*)j Which can be obtained of all the Principal Booksellers and News ®« 

*(5 Agents throughout the U. S., at Publisher's Prices. *\p 

fr & 

^ SYBIL LENNARD, a Record of Woman's Life. By MRS. GREY, JP 

tf4 author of " The Duke and the Cousin," " The Gamhler's Wife," \j* 

J-T etc. One volume, octavo, price 25 ents. ^ 

m THE DUKE AND THE COUSIN, by MRS. GREY, author of $ 

B \i " Sybil Lennard," etc. One volume, octavo, price 25 cents. ey 

^» LIEBIG'S AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY; or, Chemistry in its k & 

application to Agriculture and Physiology. By PROFESSOR TJJ 

LIEBIG. One volume, octavo, paper cover, price 25 cents. y 

LIEBIG'S ANIMAL CHEMISTRY ; or, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, 1$ 

in its application to Physiology and Pathology. By PROFESSOR ei \. 

JUSTUS LIEBIG. One volume, octavo, paper cover, price 25 kj^ 

9ij cents. »ij 

V» An edition of Professor Liebig's two works, Agricultural and Animal ^V» 

Chemistry, is also issued, neatly bound together, in one large fU 

volume, octavo, price 62^ cents. *fc 

FLIRTATION, A STORY OF THE HEART. By LADY CHAR- %k 

LOTTE BURY, author of "The Divorced." One volume, Jy 

W£ octavo, paper cover, price 25 cents. W£ 

ep ABBEY OF INNISMOYLE. A Story of Another Century. By eij 

fcfo the author of " Father Clement," cloth, 37| cents; paper cover ^(s 

*}j 25 cents. *L 

Y A NARRATIVE OF THE INIQUITIES AND BARBARITIES *** 

U*' PRACTISED AT ROME IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. $4 

By RAFFAELE CIOCCI, formerly a Benedictine and Cistercian £? 

Monk. One volume, 12mo., paper cover, price 25 cents. u4 

oj , NEUROPATHY ; or, the true principles of the art of Healing the ej . 

^(i Sick hy GALVANISM, ELECTRICITY, and MAGNETISM, in %i 
*)j the cure of Disease. By Frederick Hollick, M. D. Papercover, 
V» price 25 cents. 
*)i OUTLINES OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. By Frederick 

Hollick, M. D. One volume, quarto, bound, priceONE DOLLAR 
Zk HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN, from the time of 

ej " its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII. By D. JUAN 

^ ANTONIO LLORENTE. One volume, octavo, 208 pages— Half 

e&j cloth, 50 cents ; paper cover 37£ cents. 

*¥* FATHER CLEMENT. A ROMAN CATHOLIC STO/vY. By 

*jj the author of " Abbey of Innismoyle," " The Dicision," " Pro- ?tt 

*V» fession not Principle," etc. Paper cover, price 25 cents. *V* 

$4 DE CORMENIN'S HISTORY OF THE POPES. By LOUIS *$£ 

J* MARIE DE CORMENIN. Translated from the French— and JT 

kfz embellished with sixteen superbly colored engravings of POPES, ' uf 

X CARDINALS, &c. IN FULL COSTUME. £7 

*i» Any of the above works, neatly bound in Paper covers, can be sent ^vv 

eh by mail to any part of the United States at a trifling expense for gjj 

«-V« Postage. *-(•« 

u4 Any of the above works will be sold to Booksellers, News Agents, U-* 

Jj* and Pedlars at a very liberal discount. ^f 

4{ ADDRESS, iM 

«L T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 Chesnnt Street, ej. 



